Superman Publication History
, June 1938. Although some elements were already present in that seminal first issue -mild-mannered Clark Kent works for a Metropolis newspaper, loves his co-worker Lois Lane and is secretly an alien from planet Krypton who calls himself Superman-, most of ingredients usually associated with the mythos would be added during the next decades. Superman would prove to be an instant hit, and Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to the company for $130 and a contract to supply the publisher with material, which led to decades of legal warring over the character's rights. Superman soon became the star of Action Comics -back then an assembly magazine-, and one year later (June, 1939), his first solo title started publication. Superman first appeared in the flesh at the 1940 New York World's Fair, portrayed by actor Ray Middleton. In March 1941, DC published , a crossover title featuring their most famous characters, Superman, Batman and Robin. The book -renamed World's Finest after the first issue, established Superman and Batman lived in the same world and were good friends. In January 1945, DC decided to start publishing Superman's childhood adventures. In was published Superboy's first story where Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster narrated Superman's origin, incidentally retconning his first appearance which established he began his public career after reaching manhood. After , Superboy's adventure were moved to Adventure Comics Vol 1, starting with (April 1946). Shortly after Superboy Vol 1 started publication in March-April of 1949. Superboy's adventures would delve into Clark Kent's past and his parents Jonathan and Martha Kent until 1985 and would introduce Lana Lang. Gradually, Siegel -and at the beginning Shuster- would swell the ranks of his supporting cast and Rogues Gallery, sometimes borrowing characters of The Adventures of Superman radio show like Perry White and James Olsen In 1940, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster pitched "The K-Metal from Krypton", a story which would introduce Kryptonite and where Superman would learn about his origins and reveal his identity to Lois Lane.The "K"-Metal from Krypton. Nonetheless, their story was rejected, but the writers of the Superman Radio Show would introduce Kryptonite in 1943, and it ended up appearing in the Superman comic books in 1949, the same year Superman learn his origins. 1950 would mark the year when Superman met other Kryptonian survivors for first time: Mala, Kizo and U-Ban, three Kryptonian criminals. Around that time, Mort Weisinger, who became the editor of the Superman and Batman titles in 1941, began to put more emphasis on science-fiction stories. Silver Age (1955–1971) It's usually considered Superman's Silver Age started in March 1955 with Krypto's first appearance. During that period, writers Otto Binder, Edmond Hamilton and later Jerry Siegel, under Mort Weisinger's stewardship would introduce most of concepts Superman is known for. Old concepts like Superman's Secret Sanctuary would be revamped in the Fortress of Solitude. Superman was so popular during that period that DC started publishing titles featuring his supporting cast. In October of 1954 Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 started publication. Four years later in April 1958 that book was joined by Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1. In March 1958, Otto Binder and Al Plastino introduced the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team of future heroes who had been inspired by Superboy's present day's adventures. The Legion of Super-Heroes would remain one of the most profitable DC's properties, although their strip would move from one magazine to another (Adventure Comics, Action Comics and Superboy) before headlining their own title. In July 1958, Superman met one of his worst enemies, Brainiac, and the Bottle City of Kandor, both created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. In May 1959 another important, enduring concept was added to the Superman mythos when Superman met Supergirl. Born Kara Zor-El in Argo City, Supergirl was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, inspired by the former's creation Mary Marvel, and would soon gain her own supporting cast: Zor-El, Allura In-Ze, Dick Malverne, Streaky, Fred Danvers, Edna Danvers... Her strip was Action Comics' regular backup feature from (May, 1959) to (May, 1969) when she was moved to Adventure Comics starting in . Her first long story-arc Supergirl: The Unknown Supergirl is one of the first super-hero comic-book multi-part sagas. Prior to her creation, DC had gauged reader interest in the concept with Super-Girl in (August, 1958). Two months after Supergirl's creation, Binder and Plastino introduced Bizarro, Superman's imperfect clone created by Lex Luthor. came out in April 1961 and introduced the Phantom Zone, created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp. Another permanent fixture of that period were "Imaginary Stories" that took place out of regular continuity and featured alternate versions of the characters. Initially they were imagined tales, but later they would be reclassified as alternate universes. Since they were out of continuity stories, writers were free to change the status quo in ways would never be allowed in the main continuity. "The Death of Superman" (November, 1961), was one of such tales. Lex Luthor tricked Superman and the world into believing he had reformed, and then he lured Superman into a trap that would lead to the Man of Steel's permanent death. However, Luthor wasn't aware of Supergirl's existence. Supergirl would capture Lex and he would be trialed by a Kandorian court and banished to the Phantom Zone. By 1961, Superman was a very different character from his 1938 self due to his wildly different backstory and other differences. In order to explain away the discrepancies between the 40's and 60's characters, Julius Schwartz came up with the concept of the Multiverse. In September 1961 came out "The Flash of Two Worlds", that established the existence of Earth-One and Earth-Two. Kal-L was the original Superman who debuted in 1938 and worked in the Daily Star and Kal-El was the Superman who had existed since the mid 50's. Bronze Age (1971–1985) In 1971, Julius Schwartz took over from Weisinger as editor of the Superman titles, a position he would hold until 1986. Schwartz considered the Superman titles needed a new direction: Superman and Supergirl were too powerful, and a lot of stories relied overly on gimmicks like Kryptonite. Looking to correct those perceived issues, Dennis O'Neil and Curt Swan penned and drew Superman: Sandman Saga where Clark Kent started working as a newscaster for Galaxy Communications, all Kryptonite on Earth was turned into harmless iron and Superman lost two thirds of his power. At the same time, as part of the advertised new direction, Linda Danvers graduated college, moved to San Francisco where she'd work as a cub photographer for KSF-TV Station and showed off a new costume. Nonetheless, Dennis O'Neil Superman was rejected by the readers, forcing Schwartz to revert Superman back to his previous level of power as soon as the "Sandman Saga" was over. Still several changes such as Clark Kent's new job stuck, and from that point on the tone of the Superman comics would be a bit more serious and less light-hearted, as concepts such like differently-colored varieties of Kryptonite or the Legion of Super-Pets all but disappeared. And, writers such like Elliot S. Maggin and Cary Bates would explore different sides of the Man of Steel. Sadly, the Superman spin-off titles were victims of DC's 70's implosion. Supergirl Vol 1, Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 and Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 were cancelled and replaced with the Superman Family Vol 1 in May 1974, a 100-page anthology series published from May of 1974 until September of 1982. The numbering sequence began with issue #164, picking up from "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen". Each issue of Superman Family contained several stories spotlighting various characters within the Superman universe including Superboy, Supergirl, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Krypto, the adventures of Nightwing and Flamebird in Kandor, the private life of Clark Kent and the adventures of the older Earth-Two versions of Superman and Lois Lane. The series began publication on a bi-monthly schedule but changed to a monthly format in 1981. In September 1982, Superman Family was cancelled and only Supergirl was given another ongoing (with a Lois Lane backup strip). In 1976, the Superboy title also underwent changes. The Legion of Super-Heroes had been regular supporting cast members since , but after the title was officially changed to Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 1, and in October 1977 Superboy's adventures would be moved to "Adventure Comics". In spite of the new and shifting directions, Superman's origin remained constant throughout the whole Pre-Crisis era, even though it was every so often explored and retold in issues such like , or minis like Krypton Chronicles Vol 1. Meanwhile, the Earth-Two line of books didn't shy away from shaking the status quo off. In (February, 1976) Gerry Conway, Ric Estrada and Wally Wood revealed the original Superman had a cousin called Power Girl. In , Superman retired from the Justice Society of America to let Kara Zor-L assume his position. Later he married Lois Lane and became the editor-in-chief of the Daily Star. Nonetheless, his huge popularity meant he eventually rejoined the JSA while Power Girl left to join Infinity, Inc.. Kal-L was revealed to have been a founding member of the Earth-Two Justice Society in the team's origin story in . In the early 1980s, the Earth-Two Superman was further revamped to have been an active member of the All-Star Squadron during World War II. In July 1978 DC started to publish a Superman team-up title, DC Comics Presents Vol 1. In each issue, Superman teamed up with or came upon a different hero. The title would last ninety-seven issues until cancellation in 1986. In 1980 New Adventures of Superboy and Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 2 began publication, the latter with issue #259, continuing the numbering sequence from "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes". This series continued publication under the title Legion of Super-Heroes until issue #313, where it was renamed "Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes". During this time, a second ongoing Legion title, Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 3 began publication, running concurrently with Volume 2. With issue #326, Tales of the Legion began reprinting the initial issues from Legion (Volume 3) until its cancellation with issue #354. Volume 3 continued publication for a total of 63 issues, and came to an end in 1987. Crisis on Infinite Earths Unfortunately, the sales of the Superman titles showed an alarming decline in the early 80's. Supergirl and Superboy's second ongoing were cancelled in 1984. Initially both charactes were going to continue in a new title DC Double Comics, but those plans fell through. World's Finest, DC Comics Presents and Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 3) would also be cancelled two or three years later. Around those years, creators claiming Superman was held back by the existence of other Kryptonian survivors and the character needed a full revamp made their voices heard until they were listened by DC President Jenette Kahn. During the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, the various parallel Earths were collapsed into one, retroactively eliminating Earth-Two. Supergirl died and her existence would be forgotten in the surviving reality. Prior to the reality reset, though, Alan Moore and Curt Swan were allowed to work together on Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Pre-Crisis Superman's swan song and a heartfelt goodbye to the most successful incarnation of the character. Dark Age (1986–2000) After the Crisis, newcomer to DC, writer and artist John Byrne was hired to reboot Superman. In October 1986 the first issue of mini-series came out and rebooted Superman with a new and substantially changed origin. In the new continuity, Krypton was a cold, dystopic world, the Kents were still alive, Superman was born on Earth, was the only Kryptonian survivor, never was Superboy, never knew about his origins until after starting out his super-hero career, didn't care about Krypton, was noticeably less powerful and wasn't JLA's co-founder. John Byrne's reboot met huge success at the time, being one of the top-selling books. The re-launch of Superman comic books returned the character to the mainstream, again in the forefront of DC's titles. After the initial uptick, though, Superman's sales and popularity started to decline again. And Superboy's existence being retconned out sent the Legion titles into a tailspin. During the late 80's and 90's there was four Superman monthlies: Action Comics -which was turned into a weekly ensemble magazine for a while-, Adventures of Superman Vol 1 -''Superman'' (Volume 1) renamed in order to retain the numbering-, Superman Vol 2 and Superman: The Man of Steel Vol 1. Editor Mike Carlin ensured a steady level of quality and a tight continuity, but after the Fall of Metropolis storyline, which wrapped up all ongoing plots started by Man of Steel, the titles began to lose steam, and the writer found themselves severely hampered by the editorial veto against introducing more Kryptonian characters and delving into Kryptonian lore. John Byrne's origin story also was tweaked during the mid-90's event Zero Hour. Mercury Age (2001–2011) By 2001, it was agreed that strict adherence to John Byrne's origin was hindering Superman's evolution and success. In (March 2001), Jeph Loeb started Superman: Return to Krypton, a story arc that intended to bring Superman's Silver Age origin back without writing Man of Steel out, as well as bringing Krypto back. Return to Krypton wasn't successful and would be quickly ignored, but new attempts to rewrite Superman's origin would follow. In 2003, Mark Waid's Superman: Birthright was a major revamp of the Post-Crisis Superman and his origin. Waid was assigned the task to streamline the comic origin and make it similar to "Superman Returns") as well as Smallville (TV Series). That same year, Many Happy Returns proved the original Kara Zor-El was still popular, and Superman: The Man of Steel Vol 1 was cancelled. In 2004, jettisoned the 1986 origin definitely, and Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman: The Supergirl from Krypton brought Kara Zor-El back. In 2005 DC launched All-Star Superman Vol 1 1, an award-winning limited series written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely that paid homage to the Pre-Crisis Superman. 2005-2006 Infinite Crisis event changed Superman again, restoring parts of his Pre-Crisis past such like his Superboy career or his JLA co-founder status. Superman Volume 2 was cancelled and Adventures of Superman was renamed back to Superman Vol 1. Supergirl Vol 5 continued publication. In 2009 Geoff Johns wrote Superman: Secret Origin Vol 1 six-issues limited series in order to set Superman's new origin, blended elements of Pre-Crisis Superman and his Post-Crisis incarnation. In 2011, the Flashpoint event rebooted the universe DC again. Post-Flashpoint Era In November 2011, all Superman books were cancelled and replaced with new volumes. and told the origins of the new Superman and Supergirl respectively, as focused on Superman's current-day adventures and told the adventures of the new Superboy. Three team-up titles joined the Superman line shortly afterwards: , and . Unfortunately, the New 52 relaunch raised issues which were negatively affecting the whole company in general and the Superman franchise in particular. The Superboy title was cancelled after (October, 2014) and that incarnation of the character would be quietly retired shortly afterwards. Worlds' Finest was retired, and (May, 2015) was the last issue of that volume. In 2015, Convergence came out, and past incarnations of different characters were revisited briefly. A tie-in mini featured Clark Kent and Lois Lane from New Earth becoming parents. The mini was popular enough that came out, featuring those versions of Superman, his wife and his son trapped in Prime Earth, and Jonathan Kent discovering his powers and legacy. ...]] Said mini provided a springboard for the revamp of the Superman books, whose sales were flagging due to the controversial Superman: Truth storyline, during the DC Rebirth relaunch. During the Summer of 2016, Superman: The Final Days of Superman was published, completely changing the status quo of the Superman Family. The Superman from Prime Earth died and was replaced by his New Earth counterpart. Supergirl began operating in National City. Lois Lane and Lana Lang got powers. A new Superman made it to scene. Publication-wise, resumed publication with , the number it would have had Volume 1 been in continuous publication. All remaining Superman solo and team-up titles were cancelled and replaced with new books: (featuring Superman and his family), (featuring Supergirl in her new setting), (featuring Lana Lang), (featuring the Chinese Super-Man) and later (a Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman team-up title) and (a Superboy/Robin team-up). ]] In 2017, the Superman: Reborn storyline attempted to fix the continuity issues stemming from different versions of Superman by establishing that the Prime Earth incarnations of Superman and Lois were split off from their New Earth selves. The Prime Earth incarnations were merged back into their original selves, which modified Superman's history. In 2018, Trinity, Superwoman and New Super-Man were cancelled, the latter just five issues after being renamed to . In July, 2018 came out, 80 years later of the first issue. Said issue also marked the beginning of Brian Michael Bendis taking over the Superman titles, which had been announced earlier that year. Superman and Super Sons were cancelled, and Action Comics and Supergirl were put in a two-month hiatus as set the stage for Bendis' run. Afterwards, both titles resumed publication as normal, replaced the former volume, and the limited series started publication. | SerialHistory = The 1940s radio serial, The Adventures of Superman, introduced Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and Inspector Henderson to the Superman story. The series also introduced kryptonite, and told the first stories about Superman meeting Batman. Narrator Bill Kennedy intoned at the start of each program: "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman! Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman - who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way." | MovieHistory = Superman came to the silver screen in two live-action movie serials in the 1940s, portrayed by Kirk Alyn. Superman returned to the silver screen in 1978's ''Superman: The Movie''. It spawned three sequels and a Supergirl spin-off of varying degrees of success and quality. In 2006, the Superman movie franchise got a restart with ''Superman Returns''. Director Bryan Singer has said that the continuity is "branching off from" elements of "the first two Superman films with Christopher Reeve," which serve as, as he puts it, a "vague history." | TVHistory = * The first animated Superman series was a string of eight-minute cartoon shorts produced by Max and Dave Fleischer for Fleischer studios, ''Superman''. Beginning in 1941, Fleischer Studios produced nine animated segments of Superman, at which point production was switched over to Famous Studios, where the series continued until 1943. In total, seventeen episodes were completed and have been widely released on both VHS and DVD formats throughout the years. * ''Superman: The Animated Series'' ran from 1996-2000 and followed the adventures of Superman as he defended both Metropolis and the entire Earth. * The title for episodes airing under the title The New Batman Superman Adventures is The New Superman Adventures, as acknowledged by WB. * Actor Michael Dangerfield lent his voice to the character of Superman on the Krypto the Superdog animated series. * Actor Yuri Lowenthal provides the voice for Superman-X, a 41st century clone of Superman on the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series. | NovelHistory = * | GameHistory = Due to his popularity, Superman has starred or been featured in a large number of video games since the Bronze Age, albeit reception has been mixed. * Superman (Atari 2600): In his first game outing, Kal-El was the lead character and playable. * In 1994, Sunsoft released "The Death and Return of Superman", a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game for the Super NES and Genesis based on the eponymous storyline. * Superman was the main character in 1999 Nintendo 64 game "Superman: The New Superman Adventures", commonly referred to as "Superman 64", its first 3D game. * Superman is a playable character in Justice League Heroes. * He is also playable in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. * And in DC Universe Online. * Kal-El and several members of his supporting cast like Supergirl, Superboy and Krypto are summonable in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. * And in Infinite Crisis (Video Game) * Kal-El is a playable character in several games of the Lego Batman franchise: Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham and . * Several versions of Superman are playable fighters in the Injustice franchise. * Superman is also playable in DC Legends. | RelatedText = * Superman Origins * Superman is confusing * Supergirl Publication History | Notes = * Superman first appeared in , June 1938. Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to the company for $130 and a contract to supply the publisher with material. The Saturday Evening Post reported in 1941 that the pair was being paid still a fraction of DC's Superman profits. In 1946, when Siegel and Shuster sued for more money, DC fired them, prompting a legal battle that ended in 1948, when they signed away any further claim to Superman or any character created from him. DC soon took their names off the byline. Following the huge financial success of ''Superman: The Movie'' in 1978 and news reports of their pauper-like existences, Warner Communications gave Siegel and Shuster lifetime pensions of $35,000 per year and health care benefits. In addition, any media production which includes the Superman character must include the credit, "Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster". | Trivia = * Superman's "S" shield has differed in the different eras. The modern Superman, under John Byrne, had the "S" as nothing more than that: just an S which stood for Superman, stitched together by Martha Kent after Superman's debut in Metropolis. With Mark Waid's Birthright series, the "S" shield was re-imagined as the Kryptonian symbol for "hope." After Infinite Crisis, it was further revealed that an inverted "S" shield was the symbol for resurrection. * Superman's favorite food was Beef Bourguignon with Ketchup, but in Superman: Birthright he's a vegetarian. * The use of the name 'Clark' came from actor Clark Gable. The name 'Kent' came from Kent Taylor, actor and the brother-in-law of Jerry Siegel's wife. * According to official DC facts, Superman stands 6 foot 3 inches and weighs 225 pounds. His given age has varied over the decades; during the 1970s and 1980s, his age in most stories was 29, while the timeline given in Zero Hour #0 and most stories written since then increased his age to 35. * One of Superman's favorite snacks are soft pretzels from a neighborhood vendor named Mahjoub.Superman: Up, Up and Away! | Links = }}